Memory cards are known in the art and contain intelligence in the form of a memory circuit or other electronic program. Some form of card reader reads the information or memory stored on the card. Such cards are used in many applications in today's electronic society, including video cameras, digital still cameras, smartphones, PDA's, music players, ATMs, cable television decoders, toys, games, PC adapters, multi-media cards and other electronic applications. Typically, a memory card includes a contact or terminal array for connection through a card connector to a card reader system and then to external equipment. The connector readily accommodates insertion and removal of the card to provide quick access to the information and program on the card. The card connector includes terminals for yieldingly engaging the contact array of the memory card.
The memory card connector often is mounted on a printed circuit board. The memory card, itself, writes or reads via the connector and can transmit between electrical appliances, such as a word processor, personal computer, personal data assistant or the like. The connector terminals typically have tail portions for connection to appropriate circuit traces on the printed circuit board. The tail portions may be connected to the circuit traces by surface mount technology, wherein the tail portions are soldered to the circuit traces. The tails portions may be inserted into through holes in the circuit board for connection, as by soldering, to circuit traces on the board and/or in the holes. In either process, the solder connections involve high temperatures in a reflow process. In other instances, the tail portions simply may be electrically connected to the circuit traces by pressure engagement. This often is accomplished by using screws or other fasteners which run through the connector housing to tightly clamp the housing to the printed circuit board. In all of these processes or systems, problems are encountered when the connections between the tail portions and the circuit traces become loosened or otherwise damaged or the tail portions even becoming separated from the circuit traces. This results in incomplete connections and defective circuitry. The defective connections can be caused by the circuit board bending or warping, for instance.
The above problems are multiplied when the memory card connector is designed for receiving more than one memory card, such as two different types of memory cards. The present invention is directed to solving these problems by providing the memory card connector with an auxiliary printed circuit board which mates with a header connector on the main printed circuit board and, thereby, eliminates the connections between tail portions of the terminals on the memory card connector and circuit traces on the main printed circuit board.